DIY Holiday Gifts To Make With Your Kids

There are loads of Christmas gifts kids can make. Remember, they don't need to make the whole gift themselves from scratch. Personalizing a gift or simply being part of the process is a great way to get them involved in gifting.

Tips to Add Joy to The Process
Letting your kids make their own gifts, is a labor of love. Taking on projects with your kids is great for the whole family and can build beautiful traditions, but it can also be challenging. Read on for some tips to make sure you're holiday projects run smoothly and bring joy.

If You Fail to Plan, You Plan to Fail
Nothing ruins the joy of gift-giving like a stressed-out parent. Before you start with the activity make sure you have everything you need on hand and more than enough time. Choose projects that are age-appropriate and get ready to roll up your sleeves and get stuck in.

Many people have kids of more than one age in the house. Christmas gifts for preschoolers to make will be quite different from what older kids will enjoy. Either choose a variety of gifts to make to choose projects that the whole family can get involved in and give each child age-appropriate tasks.

Do It with Love
Crafting and baking with kids sounds lovely, but it can also be really stressful and messy. The most important part of this process is making sure that your head is in the right place and that you're ready to have fun and fill the house with joy.

Think About Packaging
Homemade gifts usually need some sort of packaging. Let the kids decorate some lightly used paper bags or add to the gift by packing it in something special that can be reused. Glass jars and other containers are great for packaging because they can be used around the house even when the gift is done.

Christmas Gifts from Kids Can Be Useful
Homemade gifts from kids can be sweet and sentimental, but they can also be useful items. Try to think of the people in your life and consider what they might find lovely and useful.

Put Together A Smores Kit
This is a quick and easy project that the whole family can get involved in. A smores kit typically includes marshmallows, cookies, chocolate, and sometimes marshmallow roasting sticks. A large glass jar makes for perfect packaging. If you want to make it more personalized get the kids to decorate the jar with sharpies or chalk markers.

If you really want to personalize this gift, make your own cookies and marshmallows. Most kids can manage to get involved in baking cookies. Older kids might enjoy the challenge of learning to make their own marshmallows (just be careful, sugar cookery is a hot process). Otherwise, keep it simple and buy the ingredients. The kids can help pack and decorate the jars.

Personalized Dish Towels
This is a great gift that's both useful and sentimental. Personalized towels are great Christmas gifts for preschoolers to make, but they're also a lovely project for older kids. Simply buy some plain dish towels and set your kids to work on them.

Colorful Sharpies are great for decorating dish towels and they won't fade with washing. Younger kids will enjoy the process and probably be done quite quickly. Older kids will enjoy creating designs, and could be busy with the project for much longer. If your kids have some embroidery skills, they can also put them to use on this project and turn the dish towels into something super special.

Christmas Decorations
When you think of homemade gifts from kids, Christmas decorations are probably what spring to mind first. There are some beautiful Christmas gifts that kids can make all by themselves. Homemade Christmas decorations are sweet and can be lovely memories to look back on as the years go by. There are so many options to choose from — a quick visit to Pinterest will bring up more ideas than you can possibly ever have time for.

Choose simple and sentimental decorations as Christmas gifts for preschoolers to make. Gifts with photos, fingerprints, and personalized drawings and messages will make lovely memories. For the older kids, bust out the beads, crafting materials, and some YouTube tutorials.

Button Art
Button art is simple and fun, and a great way to use up old buttons. If you're looking for Christmas gifts that kids can make by themselves, then button art is perfect. If you're not sure what button art is, a quick google will bring you up to speed and get your creative juices flowing.

Let your kids practice their sewing skills or whip out the glue and make the process a bit easier for them. All you need is buttons and some good, stiff card. Button art is perfect for making bookmarks, Christmas cards, and even personalized art. Keep it simple for younger kids or let the older kids' imaginations run wild.

Don't have buttons? Bulk buttons are widely available and quite affordable. Before you buy, check with neighbors, friends, and family. There's a good chance you know someone who would be happy to part with a large collection of buttons. Otherwise, search yard sales and thrift stores.

Homemade Baking Mixes
Homemade baking mixes are a lovely gift that's sure to be used. If you're looking for useful Christmas gifts kids can make, then these are a real winner. Homemade mixes are nearly the same as store-bought baking mixes, but they're not loaded with unhealthy ingredients — and you can personalize them. Keep it simple and cheap with a pancake premix packaged in a paper bag, or go all out and make luxury cookie mixes in glass jars. A lovely holiday mix is white chocolate and cranberry cookies.

Remember to package your mixes beautifully, and include instructions. All ages can be roped into measuring, packaging, and labeling jars.

Homemade Cookies
Homemade cookies are a Christmas staple and deserve a place on any DIY Christmas gift list. Choosing a few types of cookies that you only make and share and Christmas time is a great way to turn cookie making into a family tradition. Package them beautifully and remember that the packaging can be part of the gift. A beautiful bowl, tin, or jar are all great choices that will be useful for years to come.

Homemade cookies are a great gift that all ages can get involved in. If you have smaller children, break the process up into three stages for them:

• Making the cookie dough
• Cutting out shapes
• Decorating cookies

Cookie baking can be a long process. Don't expect smaller children to stay interested throughout the whole project, especially if you're making large batches of various cookies.

And Remember, to Make Sure That They Learn Something About Giving

Helping your kids make their own holiday gifts can pump some extra joy into Christmas. Making gifts is a great activity that teaches your children to focus on other people. It's ok to choose something that's a little labor-intensive. Feeling like they're really working hard to make the gift will only add to the joy when their gifts are appreciated.